Authored by Eric Kulisch via FreightWaves.com,

UPS has decided to permanently retire its fleet of 27 MD-11 aircraft and take a $137 million after-tax write off instead of returning the widebody freighters to service even if they are cleared to fly again by aviation authorities following the crash of one of its planes in early November.

The express delivery and logistics giant began a phased drawdown of the aging tri-engine aircraft, but said on Tuesday that it has accelerated the retirement plan and will replace the aircraft with more efficient twin-engine Boeing 767-300 cargo jets.

The MD-11s have been parked since Nov. 8, when the Federal Aviation Administration ordered UPS, FedEx and Western Global Airlines to ground their MD-11 fleets until inspections and any potential corrective steps can be completed in the wake of the fiery crash of UPS MD-11 in Louisville, Kentucky, that killed 15 people. Investigators are focusing on why the engine and engine pylon, which was discovered to have structural fatigue cracks, separated from the left wing as the plane moved down the runway. 

UPS compensated for the loss of MD-11 capacity during the fourth-quarter peak season by repositioning some aircraft from other parts of the world to the United States, moving more packages by truck and leasing aircraft from partner airlines. The ability to meet demand with alternative capacity convinced management to discard the MD-11s, said Chief Financial Officer Brian Dykes during an earnings call with analysts.

“Over the next fifteen months, we expect to take delivery of 18 new Boeing 767 aircraft, with 15 expected to deliver this year. As new aircraft join our fleet, we will step down the leased aircraft and associated expenses. We believe these actions are consistent with building a more efficient global network positioned for growth, flexibility and profitability,” he said.

UPS incurred $50 million in extra costs for other airlines to supply and operate aircraft in the company’s network during the second-half of the fourth quarter and expects to spend $100 million on outsourced capacity this year, Dykes said. Most of the spending for outside airlift will occur in the first half of 2025, when five 767s are expected to be delivered by Boeing. 

The MD-11 has a maximum payload of more than 207,000 pounds, with space for 26 containers on the main deck and 13 in the lower hold. The B767 is smaller, with a 132,000-pound payload capability and room for 24 large containers and seven lower-deck shipping units. It also has a shorter range.

FedEx has said it anticipates its fleet of MD-11 freighters to return to service sometime after March, but there has been little indication from regulators so far about the progress of inspections.

Aviation analysts say it may not be worth bringing back the MD-11s if regulators determine that extensive repairs are required to make them safe. 

Boeing issued a service bulletin 14 years ago in which it disclosed four previous separations of an attachment that helps hold engines to the MD-11’s wing, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report earlier this month. 

Chinese state-owned giant PetroChina, Asia’s largest oil and gas producer, which hasn’t bought Venezuelan crude since the U.S. imposed sanctions on Venezuela in 2019, is not too keen to start buying again after the U.S. authorized global traders to market the crude from the world’s biggest reserves holder, OilPrice reports.  

PetroChina has told traders not to buy or trade Venezuela’s oil – a trade that is now under U.S. control after the capture of Nicolas Maduro, trading sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.  

The Chinese oil and gas giant stopped imports of Venezuelan crude in 2019, when the first Trump Administration slapped sanctions on Venezuela’s oil sector, for fear of running afoul of the restrictions. Before the 2019 sanctions, PetroChina was the single biggest buyer of crude from Venezuela.

Now PetroChina is refraining from buying crude marketed by the world’s top oil trading houses – with U.S. blessing – as it assesses the situation, according to Reuters’ sources.  

One reason is the concern that the U.S. controls the oil from Venezuela, another is that the offers aren’t competitive compared to other supplies of heavy crude, including from Canada, the sources told the publication.

The discount of Venezuela’s flagship crude grade Merey relative to Brent has narrowed by about $10 per barrel since the ousting of Maduro.

Vitol, the world’s biggest independent oil trader, is offering Venezuelan crude to Chinese refiners at a discount that’s three times narrower compared to the illicit sales from Venezuela before Maduro’s ousting, anonymous traders with knowledge of the development told Bloomberg last week.

Vitol has recently offered cargoes of Venezuela’s flagship Merey heavy sour crude grade to China at a discount of $5 per barrel to ICE Brent, according to Bloomberg’s sources.

This compares with a discount as wide as $15 a barrel to ICE Brent on a delivered basis before the U.S. blitz in Venezuela and the capture of Maduro.

Meanwhile, Chinese independent refiners, which gorged on cheap sanctioned Venezuelan crude in the past few years, are likely welcoming what could be their last imports of sanctioned Venezuelan oil, which loaded before the U.S. blockade.  

Authored by Christina Comben via CoinTelegraph.com,

In a new interview with US media personality Tucker Carlson, gold advocate Peter Schiff renewed his attack on Bitcoin and the broader crypto industry.

Speaking on Carlson’s show, he argued that Bitcoin is a speculative instrument with “no actual use” and warned that proposals for a US strategic reserve amount to a taxpayer‑funded bailout for early adopters. 

Schiff also spent much of the conversation attacking official inflation data and fiscal policy, telling Carlson that Americans are “being lied to” about inflation, and arguing that the government changed the Consumer Price Index so that it could blame the private sector for the higher cost of living, when it was “simply raising prices in response to inflation.”

He singled out President Donald Trump’s signature Big Beautiful Bill as “the worst thing that we’ve done under Trump,” and argued that the legislation not only preserved all the deficit spending under President Joe Biden, but “made it worse” by “increasing government spending” and cutting taxes.

“Complete waste of capital”

Schiff turned to the crypto industry and complained about the US government “promoting” it, which is a “complete waste of capital” and has caused many Americans to “throw their money away” on crypto.

Peter Schiff discusses inflation, gold and Bitcoin. Source: Tucker Carlson

​When Carlson cuts in to ask, “Why is it throwing it away?” and why betting on Bitcoin is any different from buying gold or stocks, Schiff answers that BTC has “no actual use” beyond speculation and “the only reason anybody wants to buy it” is that “they think the price is going to go up.” “That is the sole source of demand,” he said. 

He added that people who “made money in crypto” only did so because “the crypto that they bought a long time ago went way up,” not because they produced anything of value, or made people’s lives better. 

“How’s that different from buying gold? You’re not making anything. You’re not making anyone’s life better,” Carlson interjects, to which Schiff replies:

“There’s a big difference… [Bitcoin] is never going to earn money in the future. It is a non-income-producing digital asset. It’s got nothing in common with gold.”

Bitcoin: The new global reserve currency?

​Summarizing Schiff’s arguments about the state of the global economy and the decline in purchasing power of the US dollar, Carlson asks why Bitcoin could not become the next global reserve asset as confidence in the dollar erodes.

Schiff dismisses that idea outright, claiming that a Bitcoin strategic reserve is really just a “Bitcoin bailout fund,” trying to use taxpayer money, and alleging that some early holders “were able to pay off a bunch of politicians and get them to support Bitcoin.”

​He argues that both BTC and fiat currencies are ultimately faith‑based, but that central banks cannot rely on Bitcoin because it has no non‑monetary demand and would collapse if they ever tried to liquidate it at scale. 

By contrast, he calls gold “real money” and “a valuable commodity” used in jewelry, aerospace, consumer electronics and medicine, and says that tokenized, fully backed gold on blockchains can deliver internet‑native payments without creating inflation or relying on ever‑rising token prices.

The price of gold has been on a tear lately, reaching a new all-time high over $5,000 an ounce on Monday, amid rising global trade tensions, while the Bitcoin price fell briefly below $86,000, signaling a sharp divergence as the precious metal surged 17% in January.

Update(1934ET): FT and others have reported that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has moved to activate emergency contingency plans, aiming to secure critical supplies and ensure continuity of government operations amid fears of renewed US or Israeli attacks, at a moment President Trump has said a “beautiful armada” of US warships, including the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier, has arrived in regional waters. Trump said the following Tuesday evening…

Trump on Iran:

There is another beautiful armada floating beautifully toward Iran right now, so we will see.

I hope they make a deal. I hope they make a deal. pic.twitter.com/oDcUgwX12n

— Clash Report (@clashreport) January 27, 2026

The FT report earlier described, “Iran’s president began implementing emergency measures to shore up supplies of essential goods and keep government running in case of new attacks on the country by the US or Israel.” And more:

In a meeting on Tuesday with governors of border provinces, Masoud Pezeshkian issued orders designed to “eliminate redundant bureaucracy and accelerate the import of basic commodities,” according to state media, as cited in the report.

“We are handing over authorities to provinces so that governors can contact the judiciary and officials in other organizations and make decisions themselves,” Pezeshkian said.

* * *

On the one hand there are reports that the Trump administration “is open for business” when it comes to negotiations with Iran. “If they want to talk, and they know our terms, we are open to have a conversation,” a senior US official has told Axios. But on the other, amid this ‘openness’ toward cutting a deal (presumably on the nuclear and ballistic missile fronts), President Trump is said to be weighing a menu of escalation options aimed squarely at forcing regime change in the Islamic Republic, according to fresh regional and US reporting.

Middle East Eye, citing Arab officials, reports that Washington is actively considering direct strikes on senior targets in Tehran. “The US is weighing precision strikes on ‘high-value’ Iranian officials and commanders who it deems responsible for the deaths of protesters, a Gulf official familiar with the discussions told Middle East Eye.”

The Jerusalem Post reports that another option under discussion is a full blockade of Iranian oil exports – a replay of last year’s Venezuela playbook. That campaign saw Washington impose an embargo, seize oil tankers, and ultimately kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in the Jan.3rd military raid on Caracas.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has emerged as a leading advocate of economic warfare, arguing that collapsing Iran’s economy would create conditions severe enough to trigger an internal uprising against the government, or starve the system until it breaks (as also happened in Iran’s ally Syria). US Treasury days ago began hitting Tehran officials with new protest-related sanctions.

Other senior officials are pushing for a more kinetic approach. Members of Trump’s Cabinet have urged targeted military strikes against Iranian government and military assets, but say these could be limited in scope akin to military action in the June 12-day war involving Israel.

Earlier this month, Trump reportedly held back from striking Iran, citing concerns that the Pentagon lacked sufficient forces in the region to decisively topple the government, also at a moment the US Navy strike force was built up on the southern Caribbean. 

But a former US official told Middle East Eye that the odds of a strike are now higher than they were just weeks ago. Currently there’s a major military buildup ensuing across the Middle East, including the deployment of an aircraft carrier strike group (the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group), additional fighter jets, and advanced air defense systems – signaling ‘all options’ are indeed on the table.

Protests is in Iran have long gone quiet, but what has changed? The NY Times reports Tuesday:

President Trump has received multiple U.S. intelligence reports indicating that the Iranian government’s position is weakening, according to several people familiar with the information.

The reports signal that the Iranian government’s hold on power is at its weakest point since the shah was overthrown in the 1979 revolution.

But the dilemma remains as hawks in the administration urge action: “Mr. Trump warned that he could strike Iran as the government’s bloody crackdown on the protests expanded. Still, his advisers have been divided on the benefits of strikes, particularly if they were simply symbolic strikes against elements of the government involved in the crackdown,” The NY Times report adds.

Washington logic: Give them an ultimatum that they’ll never accept anyway and consequently you have the perfect reason to start bombing them…

The Americans are basically asking the Iranians to abandon their entire defense strategy. It’s completely untenable for the regime. https://t.co/oGRDn1dDLh

— Woofers (@NotWoofers) January 26, 2026

One anti-Iran think tank hawk, Jason Brodsky, who is Policy Director at United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), writes that “Iran’s regime wants a JCPOA-like deal. It is highly unlikely Khamenei will agree to the terms America is demanding because it would basically amount to a form of regime change. But the Islamic Republic will try and lead the U.S. on to think it will negotiate meaningfully to avoid an attack and entrap the U.S. in endless negotiations.”

But we should note that Tehran also has little reason to ever trust Washington, given the original JCPOA was collapsed when the first Trump administration unilaterally pulled out of it.

Via Greg Hunter’s USAWatchdog.com,

Financial writer and precious metals expert Bill Holter (aka Mr. Gold) has been predicting record high gold and silver prices.  We are nowhere finished with record prices for the metals happening every week and sometimes every day. 

Mr. Gold now has a new prediction about paper exchanges not being able to deliver physical metal.  Holter says, “We exploded through $100 per ounce silver, and we went through $5,000 per ounce on gold, but that’s not the story.”

“The story is there are already over 40 million ounces standing for delivery in January. 

January is a non-delivery month. 

If you go back in past years, you might see delivery in January that might be a million ounces, two million ounces or a small amount. 

We are already at 40 million ounces of silver in January with only a few days left in the month. 

March is a delivery month. 

That’s the month where I am going to be really interested to see what the number is for how much is standing for delivery at the beginning of the month. 

If you get 70 million or 80 million ounces of silver standing for delivery at the beginning of the month . . . that would be enough to knock out the inventory in March, which is a primary delivery month for COMEX..”

Holter goes on to say, “They reportedly have 110 million ounces to 120 million ounces registered for delivery…”

”  Is any of that incumbered?  We just don’t know. 

If we get a failure to deliver that completely negates any and all value of a COMEX contract…

If the contract cannot perform, it is worth zero. 

A failure to deliver wipes out any credibility of COMEX pricing…

A failure to deliver in silver will immediately spill over into gold. 

A failure to deliver in gold will immediately spill over to the credit markets because gold is truly the anti-dollar or the anti-US Treasury.”

Holter says some of the big metal dealers and banks shorting the monetary metals are in financial trouble.  Holter says:

“This is all caused by rising metals prices, mainly rising silver prices. . .. Some people may think the rally is over, and it’s not. 

We are still early in this price rise. 

Any price you hear is going to be laughably too low, and I am going to include that $600 figure for silver that came out several years ago.  I think any number you put out there for gold or silver will end up being laughably low.”

Holter contends if you look at all the commitment and debt, there is $200 trillion for the US.  Holter says:

“If you take just the $38 trillion in debt for the federal government and you want to back the debt with the 8,000 tons of US gold, you are talking around $200,000 per ounce for gold.”

In closing, Holter predicts, “There will be failure to deliver silver in the first part of March 2026…”

”  The currencies will zero out.  It is a collapse of the entire financial system…

The real economy runs on credit.  Everything you touch, everything you do . . . credit has been involved in its creation. 

If credit becomes unattainable, the real economy completely shuts down, and that is where your Mad Max comes in.”

There is much more in the 39-minute interview.

Join Greg Hunter of USAWatchdog as he goes one-on-one with financial writer and precious metals expert Bill Holter/Mr. Gold as the financial system resets for 1.26.26.

A steady drumbeat of media reports has warned about AI wiping out entry-level jobs and even eliminating some middle-management positions, but the prospect of AI taking over the job of CEO, or at least parts of some executive functions, could be a reality sooner than we think.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has revealed that he has deployed an internal, self-hosted AI model that functions as a centralized “oracle,” ingesting every Slack message and Google document to create a unified, aggregated repository of the company’s communications.

Speaking with “All-In” co-host Jason Calacanis during an interview in Davos, Armstrong explained how the system has evolved from a basic productivity aid into a strategic advisor widely adopted across teams, including legal and finance.

“One of the big pushes we made in the last year was um we got our own internal hosted AI model that was connected to all of our data sources, right?” Armstrong said. “It’s like every Slack message, every Google doc, every Salesforce data, Confluence. So now this is all linked up in one like the data is all aggregated and you can ask these agents. Every team is using it.“

“It’s like the oracle of Coinbase,” Calacanis interrupted.

“Yeah,” the Coinbase leader replied.

The “Old Way” of running a company is dead. 💀

Brian Armstrong just revealed how he’s using AI agents to run @Coinbase, and it’s a glimpse into the future of leadership.

1. Real-Time Monitoring 👁️
No more waiting for “quarterly reviews.” Brian uses AI agents to synthesize… pic.twitter.com/fp5TTD16rZ

— Jungle Inc Crypto News (@jungleincxrp) January 24, 2026

Armstrong also explained how he has shifted from using AI for routine applications – such as drafting memos – to more introspective queries that surface potential blind spots. “I’ve started to ask it really – it’s not just like prompting it, ‘Hey, can you write this kind of memo for me or something,’” Armstrong told Calacanis. “I’m asking these AI agents now, um, as CEO, like, ‘What should I be aware of in the company that I might not be aware of?’ And it’ll tell me, ‘Did you know that, like, there’s actually disagreement on this team about the strategy?’ And I was like, ‘Actually, I didn’t know that,’ cuz it can read every Slack message in every Google Doc.”

Armstrong credited Coinbase board member and Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke with introducing the concept of “reverse prompting” to him. “He said this is like reverse prompting. Instead of telling the AI agent what you want to do, you ask it what you should be thinking more about, right?” Armstrong said.

“It’s a mentor, it’s like a coach,” Calacanis interjected.

“Yeah. Like, what could make me a better CEO?” Armstrong replied. “And it’s like, well, I looked at all how you spent your time in the last quarter. Here’s how you said that you wanted to spend it, but you actually spent like 32% of your time on this instead of 20%. I’ve asked it other questions like, what’s the thing that I changed my mind on the most over the last year? Things like that.”

“It’ll prompt you with information you should be thinking about instead of the other way around,” he added.

In the future, you don’t prompt AI–AI prompts you.

Authored by Jeremy Portnoy via RealClearInvestigations,

Topline: In fiscal year 2025, Congress funded 1,326 federal programs that had expired legal authorizations to receive taxpayer funding — the most since at least 2019, when the Congressional Budget Office began totaling the annual number.

Another 304 funded programs had authorizations that expired later in 2025.

These “zombie programs” cost taxpayers at least $500 billion in 2025, although CBO analysts were unable to determine how much money 869 of the programs actually received; the actual dollar total was far higher. 

Key facts: “Zombie programs” earn their nickname by living on for decades after their funding was legally scheduled to lapse. For example, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was created by a 1981 law that allowed Congress to fund it until 1984. But Congress has continued to send it money every year, without passing a law that makes such funding legal. 

Oftentimes, Congress is too busy to reauthorize federal programs. Sarah Binder, professor of political science at George Washington University, previously told RealClearInvestigations that “Congress doesn’t have the time to do good institutional housecleaning … They don’t have the capacity to keep tabs on the authorizations.”

Binder argued that, if a program is currently funded by Congress, it would be unconstitutional for the president to shut it down simply because its authorization is expired. Yet for many zombie programs, it has been years since Congress voted to decide if they are an efficient use of taxpayer money. Funding is instead tucked into larger spending packages with thousands of pages.

Zombie programs from 2025 included the controversial Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which voted this January to shut itself down. Its legal authorization to receive taxpayer funding expired in 1996.

There were 22 zombie programs that expired during the 1980s.

The House Committee on Energy and Commerce funded 363 zombie programs, more than any other committee.

It remains unknown how many zombie programs will receive funding in 2026, as Congress had still not passed a full 2026 federal budget when the latest CBO report was released on Jan. 15. The CBO said another report will be issued “later this year.” 

There are 157 federal programs that received funding in 2025 but will expire in 2026. Another 180 programs will expire in 2027.

Search all federal, state and local salaries and vendor spending with the world’s largest government spending database at OpenTheBooks.com. 

Summary: As the national debt continues to climb, federal programs that have not undergone a reauthorization vote in decades are prime candidates for potential cuts.

The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com

In what could mark a new milestone in the evolving saga of personal AI agents, social media entrepreneur Alex Finn claimed on Tuesday that his self-hosted Clawdbot autonomously designed and animated a visual representation of itself, complete with an animated owl body, while he slept. The clip depicts an owl-bodied figure moving across a persistent on-screen interface, responding to delegated tasks and spawning subagents as additional animated characters when the system distributes work.

“Last night while I was sleeping my ClawdBot Henry built himself a face,” Finn wrote on X. “Without me asking, he built an entire visual interface for himself so I can watch him work.” He described the always-on display – running on a secondary monitor – as making the AI feel like “a coworker/friend,” providing real-time visibility into its activities.

Ok this is wild. Last night while I was sleeping my ClawdBot Henry built himself a face

Without me asking, he built an entire visual interface for himself so I can watch him work

Now whenever I give him tasks his Owl body starts moving and working

If he spins up subagents,… pic.twitter.com/aewVgpYQM6

— Alex Finn (@AlexFinn) January 26, 2026

Finn, founder of Creator Buddy and a proponent of so-called “vibe coding” approaches, encouraged other users to prompt their own Clawdbot instances to generate similar self-representations, calling the result “WAY more fun” and signaling plans to explore holographic-style extensions reminiscent of virtual assistants like Cortana.

Clawdbot, an open-source project originated by Austrian developer Peter Steinberger, the former head of PDF-software company PSPDFKit, runs locally on user hardware such as Mac Minis or more robust setups. The AI tool integrates with messaging platforms including Telegram, WhatsApp, and Slack, maintains persistent memory, and executes approved system tools, often powered by Anthropic’s Claude models.

Had some fun today

Got 12 Mac Minis setup with 12 Clawdbots running 12 Ralph Wiggums with my 12 Claude Max Plans

Wake up. It’s 2026. You’re getting left behind in the dust pic.twitter.com/2vul9aJGCk

— Jeff Tang (@jefftangx) January 23, 2026

The wild episode highlights the appeal of unconstrained, self-hosted agents that can operate unsupervised for extended periods. Yet it also underscores persistent security concerns surrounding such powerful tools. Security researcher Jamieson O’Reilly recently disclosed that hundreds of Clawdbot control servers remain publicly exposed on the internet, often due to misconfigured web-based admin interfaces left without authentication.

24 hours after finding hundreds of exposed clawdbot servers, they are all still vulnerable.

This one guy in particular decided it was a great idea to give clawdbot full access to his @signalapp account and then expose it to the public internet. He appears to have no idea and… https://t.co/L7cZXqPDXP pic.twitter.com/V62MWCBXjH

— Jamieson O’Reilly (@theonejvo) January 26, 2026

Flying home and I noticed everyone sitting in first class was running clawdbot on a Mac mini with a $200 claude max plan

I looked back and everyone else was running clawd on a $5 vps

Just an interesting observation pic.twitter.com/2bMzzCuHoV

— Ryley Randall (@ryleyrandall22) January 25, 2026

In those cases, anyone discovering an unprotected instance could access full configuration details – including API keys and OAuth secrets – review months of private conversations across connected platforms such as Slack, Telegram, Signal, Discord, and WhatsApp, impersonate the owner by sending messages, and in some instances execute commands on the host machine, potentially with root privileges. O’Reilly characterized the vulnerabilities as stemming not from novel exploits but from a classic and widespread problem: improper exposure of administrative portals for tools that, by design, require broad system and communication access to deliver value.

The newly signed India-European Union free trade agreement is being hailed as “the mother of all deals” – as it follows nearly two decades of intermittent negotiations, also after President Trump slapped India with 50% tariffs last year in part for continuing to buy Russian oil, and as Washington pressures Europe and Denmark particularly over Greenland.

The deal is expected to double EU goods exports to India by 2032, by eliminating or at least sharply reducing tariffs on 96.6% of the value of EU exports. “This agreement will bring major opportunities for the people of India and Europe,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Tuesday. And European Commission President President Ursula von der Leyen, who was in New Delhi on Monday as an honorary guest for India’s Republic Day and its annual military parade, said that “Europe and India are making history today.”

She further wrote on X: “We have created a free-trade zone of two billion people, with both sides set to benefit. We will grow our strategic relationship to be even stronger.” European Council President Antonio Costa was also present.

Indeed in terms of geographic scope, the agreement spans a population of roughly 2 billion people (between India and the 27-member bloc) and creates a combined market valued at nearly $27 trillion, accounting for about 25% of global GDP, according to European sources.

What’s in it? Below are the main highlights:

• Will phase out tariffs on most EU exports of chemicals, machinery, and electrical equipment, along with aircraft and spacecraft, following staged reductions.

• Tariffs on motor vehicles, currently as high as 110%, will be slashed to 10% under a quota of 250,000 vehicles – a cap that is six times larger than the 37,000-unit quota India granted the UK under a deal signed last July.

• India will also lower tariffs on EU wine, beer, and olive oil.

• Brussels said the deal is expected to boost investment flows, improve access to EU markets, and deepen supply-chain integration between the two sides.

• New Delhi said nearly all Indian exports will receive “preferential access” to the EU, with textiles, leather goods, marine products, handicrafts, gems, and jewelery seeing tariffs reduced or eliminated.

• Commodities such as tea, coffee, spices, and processed foods will also benefit, though India said it has “prudently safeguarded sensitive sectors,” including dairy, cereals, poultry, soy meal, and certain fruits and vegetables, to balance export growth with domestic priorities.

• India and the EU also agreed to a mobility framework that will temporarily ease restrictions on professional travel between the two markets.

While Brussels and New Delhi are busy celebrating, all eyes are on how the Trump White House will react, given the agreement is widely viewed as strategic hedge against Trump’s unpredictable and volatile trade policies and tariff threats, often unleashed in late night Truth Social posts.

The European Right might have something to say about a controversial aspect which is already being underreported…

🚨BREAKING: EU SIGNS IMMIGRATION DEAL WITH INDIA

This will allow potentially MILLIONS of Indians to come and work/study in Europe

This will be a complete disaster

Once they come, most won’t leave

Ursula Von Der Leyen has betrayed the European people pic.twitter.com/Thnl85QtOw

— Basil the Great (@BasilTheGreat) January 27, 2026

And more criticism and details on migration which in reality is only going to be one-way…

Europe is replacing US tech companies with nonsense built by Indians.

Von der Leyen is in India RIGHT NOW securing deals to bring millions of Indian workers and students to Europe.

It’s called the Common Agenda on Migration and Mobility and it is 100% about Indian migration. pic.twitter.com/1rkGbekWsm

— White Papers Policy Institute (@WhitePapersPol) January 25, 2026

On Sunday Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave the world a preview on what Trump is likely thinking as the EU forged ahead. “The US has made much bigger sacrifices than Europeans have. We have put 25% tariffs on India for buying Russian oil. Guess what happened last week? The Europeans signed a trade deal with India,” Bessent told ABC News.

As a Friday deadline approaches for a partial government shutdown, Republicans are backed into a corner following national uproar over two deadly ICE shootings by federal agents in Minneapolis amid growing concern over the agency’s tactics. 

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) plans to move forward with a six-bill spending package, which includes funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) which runs ICE. Democrats are insisting that R’s drop the DHS language from the package, however Republicans are refusing to do so. 

The House-passed bill would allocate another $10 billion for ICE on top of the $76 billion the agency is already slated to receive over four years from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was signed into law last year. 

Right now Trump is focusing on “de-escalatory measures,” as one administration official tells Punchbowl News. To that end, the admin has already demoted Gregory Bovino, the CBP official in charge of Minneapolis operations – who’s been replaced by border czar Tom Homan. Trump also spoke by phone with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Monday. Meanwhile, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has agreed to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee after months of refusing to do so. According to Punchbowl, Noem “has a real problem on both sides of the aisle on the Hill,” and her top aide, Corey Lewandowski, met with Trump for two hours on Monday night. 

Polymarket odds of a shutdown by Jan. 31 (Saturday) are now hovering around 79%. 

Democrats Are Still A No

Senate Democrats – who are vowing to block the funding if it includes the DHS language, say the proposals being floated the the White House and Senate Republicans are unrealistic, and they’re a ‘no’ until they see significant reforms to the conduct of federal immigration officers in Minneapolis and other cities – including prohibiting them from wearing masks during federal operations and requiring judicial search warrants before entering a suspect’s home. 

On Monday, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced that Democrats will gladly speed through procedural obstacles to pass the funding package as long as it doesn’t include DHS funding.

“If [Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.)] puts those five bills on the floor this week, we can pass them right away. If not, Republicans will again be responsible for another government shutdown,” said Schumer. 

Of note, stripping the DHS / ICE funding from the FY2026 package would require a new vote in the House, which is on recess this week – so there would be a short-term shutdown at minimum. 

GOP congressional leaders and the White House are desperate to avoid a scenario in which the funding package has to go back to the House, which explains their opposition to splitting off the DHS bill.

Here’s the concern gripping the top levels of the Trump administration — the House simply can’t pass another DHS funding bill under any circumstances.

Even if Trump were to cut a deal with Democrats that can get through the Senate, House Republicans believe they can’t round up 218 votes to pass a rule to get it on the House floor. Or alternatively, find 290 lawmakers willing to pass it under suspension of the rules. Republicans just don’t believe there’s a coalition in the House that can pass another DHS bill.

That’s why Trump has been focused on “de-escalatory measures,” as one administration official told us, a first step toward placating Democrats. –Punchbowl News

The Senate is expected to hold an initial vote to advance the package on Thursday, the day before Friday’s deadline. 

Republican Lawmakers Scramble

Following the incidents in Minnesota, Republican lawmakers in both chambers began calling for a thorough investigation into Saturday’s shooting, and have asked the Trump administration to immediately ease tensions in Minneapolis. 

“If I were President Trump, I would almost think about, ‘OK, if the mayor and the governor are going to put our ICE officials in harm’s way and there’s a chance of losing more innocent lives, then maybe go to another city,” said Rep. James Comer (R-KY), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in a Sunday comment to Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo. 

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) called for “everyone” to “ratchet the anger down,” while noting that the two US citizens “who have been killed in confrontations with law enforcement” were “from all appearances … not violent criminals,” The Hill notes. 

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) who chairs the Senate Homeland Security Committee, sent letters to the heads of CBP, ICE, and US Citizenship and Immigration Services on Monday calling on them to testify on Feb. 12 before his committee. 

How Far Will Dems Push?

While Democrats currently appear to have the upper hand in this fight, Punchbowl asks how far should they push it? While specific targeted policy changes and reforms are likely to gain traction with the White House – which is desperate to get past the moment, calls to “abolish ICE” will be ignored.

There’s also the obvious risk for Democrats: The political fallout from triggering a partial government shutdown just a couple of months after instigating a record 43-day funding lapse. And for DHS, this would hit FEMA at a time when much of the country is dealing with the aftermath of a severe winter storm. The Coast Guard and TSA are under DHS too. Plus, ICE would be funded anyway because of the cash infusion it got from the GOP’s One Big Beautiful Bill last year. -Punchbowl

Then there’s the Pentagon, Labor, Transportation, and HUD departments which would be directly affected by the shutdown. The risk for Democrats is that Trump makes concessions on ICE but Democrats continue to ‘resist.’